Alice’s Adventures Under Ground was the title of a story
told by English Minister turned author, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson,
reportedly on a boating trip with another man and three young
girls aged 8, 10, and 13. One of the three girls assumedly being
babysat on the trip was named Alice. The minister changed the
name in 1865, when his book was first written several years after
the trip, to Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, after Alice
Liddell asked for it written down. Dodgson expanded on the work
and published it, and the small press run quickly sold out. The
books publishing soared, and was later shortened as Alice in
Wonderland, under Dodgson’s pseudonym Lewis Carroll.
Over 155 years later, Alice in Wonderland it is one of the most
famous and enduring children’s books of all time, loved by
adults alike. An original copy of the first pressing sold by
auction less than 15 years ago, for nearly two million dollars by
a private collector. 7 years after writing Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland, Dodgson, now Carroll, went on to write
the sequel, known as Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice
Found There. Though certain characters only appear in the second
book, many screen versions of the Alice in Wonderland combine the
two stories together, including this year’s latest. Over 25
film and television film versions have been made of the story,
and many, works by play.
Alice in Wonderland has played an important role in pop culture,
and particularly subculture. In the 1950’s and 60’s
for example, its phrase ‘down the rabbit hole,’ which
referred to a place of the unknown, was used as a euphemism for a
psychedelic drug trip. Hippies and other drug users of
psychedelics such as mushrooms, peyote, and LSD considered Alice
in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to contain prophetic,
hallucinatory revelations.
The books by Lewis Carroll are filled with strange tales in each
chapter, in a fairy tale of make believe turned real. As do many
other modern day children’s animation stories, it has
talking creatures and animals with human qualities. Today we
think little of this. Back In 1931 however, communist China
banned the book in the city of Hunan, due to having talking
animals that are treated with too much respect, like humans. In a
New Hampshire High School, Alice In Wonderland was foolishly
banned due to alleged bad language, sexual references, and
presumed negative portrayals of religion and teachers. One
controversial modern day church would go on to use Alice in
Wonderland in some of its training, in order to help people
better communicate.
It is with this checkered past that the legendary Alice in
Wonderland came to the mind of one of Hollywood’s most
pronounced, modern day auteur directors, the lauded Tim Burton.
Before Alice, he gave us the classic tale of the undead,
Beetlejuice, the haunted Sleepy Hollow, the campy, dark and
brilliant Edward Scissorhands, the outstanding Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory, the timeless, surreal, absurdist masterpiece
of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, the wonderful A Nightmare
Before Christmas, and many more.
To say that Tim Burton is a wonder; a true phenomenon, is an
understatement. Internationally lauded as an artist, Tim Burton
heads the jury at the esteemed Cannes Film Festival this May. The
renown Museum of Modern Art in New York City recently launched a
dazzling show dedicated to his painting. And he teamed with
Disney for what is proving to be the year’s biggest hit,
Alice in Wonderland. Disney even called goth / metal retailer Hot
Topic to push the party. The vamps haven’t been this
excited since Twilight. Neither have we. But the fun
doesn’t stop with the goth kids. Alice In Wonderland is a
film for all ages and all demographics. We are pleased to bring
you here now on the next page, an interview with the film’s
director, Tim Burton.
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